The Many Firsts - with Katrina Adams

05/06/21 • 39 min

Player, coach, broadcaster and administrator, Katrina Adams has done it all. Adams is the former President and CEO of the United States Tennis Association—the first black woman, first former player and youngest person ever to hold the position. Adams served an unprecedented two consecutive terms as USTA Chairman and President, serving the board between 2005 and 2020.

As a professional tennis player, Adams competed for 12 years on the WTA Tour, winning 20 career doubles titles and reaching a career high of World Number 8.

She has been named on Adweek magazine’s “Most Powerful Women in Sports” list twice (2016 and 2017), Forbes magazine’s “Most Powerful Women in Sports” list in 2017 and Ebony magazine’s “Power 100” list.

She is Vice President of the International Tennis Federation, Chair of the Billie Jean King Cup Committee, Chair of the Gender Equality in Tennis Committee and the Executive Director of the Harlem Junior Tennis and Education Program.

She has recently published her maiden novel “Own the Arena”, which is available and out now.

As a professional tennis player, Adams competed for 12 years on the WTA Tour, winning 20 career doubles titles and reaching a career high of World Number 8.

She has recently published her maiden novel “Own the Arena”, which is available and out now.

Previous Episode

A Trans-Atlantic Tale with Gill Donaldson

In this 13th outing, Ben speaks to his Great Aunt and former Olympic Champion Fencer, Gillian Donaldson. Now 92, Donaldson (née Sheen) is a seven-time British national fencing champion, and Olympic Gold medallist in the Foil for Great Britain at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. In becoming Olympic Champion in Melbourne, Donaldson was, and remarkably remains so to this day, the only Briton ever to win Gold in Fencing at an Olympic Games.

Whilst competing at an elite level in the early days of her fencing career in England, Donaldson balanced her athletic career alongside her dental surgeon studies at University College Hospital London. Post retirement from fencing, she made the move across the Atlantic to New York with her husband, Bob, a part of the world where she has loved ever since.

Hilary Philbin, President of British Fencing has described Gillian as “an inspiration to a new generation of fencers and remains so to this day.” It is this level of praise as well as her success in competition that lead to Gillian being awarded an MBE, albeit somewhat belatedly, in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2019.

Gillian has lived in New York State since the 1960’s, where she put her studies to good use by setting up a dental and orthodontic practice with her husband, and also spent time practicing dentistry on an annual basis on the island of Montserrat, a British Overseas territory in the Carribean with a population of only 5,000 people.

As a self-confessed “huge fan” of Her Majesty The Queen, she remains in regular contact with the UK, flying back for special fencing events, including the 2012 London Olympics and supporting young British fencers.

Next Episode

And The Oscar Goes To - with Bryan Fogel

Bryan Fogel is an American film director, producer, author, and 2018 Academy Award Winner in the Best Documentary Feature category for his revelatory film, Icarus.

Icarus was released in 2017 and achieved huge critical acclaim having been described as “illuminating” by the New York Times and “Game Changing” by Variety due to its pivotal role in revealing evidence of systematic doping in Russia. Fogel’s Icarus premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, winning the first ever Special Jury "Orwell Award" as well as the first ever Audience Choice Award. The film was then acquired in a historic $5 million sale to media giant Netflix, before going on to secure Fogel the coveted Oscar, in what was the highlight of his career to date.

As a former standup comedian and actor, and the writer of long-running Off-Broadway show, Jewtopia, Fogel describes himself as having a “goofy” personality, a characteristic in stark contrast to the serious, thrilling nature of his recent work.

Fogel’s most recent film, The Dissident, follows the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia's effort to control international dissent. It is currently available to watch in the UK on Amazon Prime.